Politics of Ottoman

READ Strayer, p. 575-577.
WRITE a blog post comparing the identity politics and policies of the 19th and 20th century Ottoman empire and those of the 16th and 17th centuries. Think about possible connections between the Ottoman policies we studied at the beginning of the year and the fate of the empire in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Ottoman Empire of the 16th and 17th century had many differences from the empire in the 19th and 20th century. The old empire a mostly a Muslim population and didn’t have as much diversity from the Ottoman Empire of the 20th century. In the 19th and 20th century, it had a diverse population because along with the Muslims, they had Turks and many other non-Muslims. It was a secular state with people who were loyal to the government that ruled it, rather than a Muslim state that is based on religious principles. Lower level officials, military officers, writers, poets, and journalists appeared in the empire during the reform process. They were called the “Young Ottomans” and were active during the 19th century. They favored a constitutional regime and wanted to embrace the Western knowledge, but rejecting its materialism. They believed that they could find Islam as the basis for freedom and progress. Eventually, the Ottoman empire would turn into more of a democracy than an empire because the “Young Turks”, military and civilian elites who looked at the empire as if it was a Turkish national state, pushed for schools, courts, elections, and competing parties. The Ottoman Empire was blooming into a better state in the 20th century compared to the end of the 17th century, where the empire had its decline. Only over a few centuries, the Ottoman Empire gained Western knowledge and culture and turned into more of a democratic government rather than an empire.